Ivor’s Academy is a non-profit organisation that represents a diverse community of musicians, the musicians union connects thirty two thousand individuals across all sectors which provides opportunities and service for all those involved. Therefore this project stood out to me due to the wider audience it considers and how it would be seen by a lot of younger creators who are experiencing similar things to what I am currently going through in my own practice.
This project is for The Ivors Academy & Musicians Union against buyouts with regards to our ‘intellectual property’. Using a buyout contract when commissioning musicians work is becoming increasingly asked for by a client, this is the transfer of royalties from the creator to the buyer in exchange for an upfront fee. In the moment this large upfront fee may seem appealing however it is only a short-term solution since if you maintained rights over royalties you would have regular payments which are useful if you find yourself in a time where you are not able to find work. Additionally over the years, according to Ivor’s information, the amount that is paid for an upfront fee has decreased and sometimes does not even cover the costs of the creation of the piece.
In the Ivor’s brief they have written that ‘We want to empower music creators to know their rights, read their contracts, not be afraid to say no and ask for more.’ In my opinion this statement is extremely important since if you did just this your life as a creative could change dramatically. Written down like that it also seems extremely simple to be able to do, however gaining this much confidence in the world of your practice is difficult since it requires knowledge and understanding. Contracts can be scary and confusing (I also know this from my own recent experience), there are a lot of words on the page, complex ideas and confusing language, therefore this awareness campaign provides musicians the ability to be part of a community which is able to be a guiding figure and teacher to help with these things.
The audience for this campaign are young upcoming musicians and those who might be moving around the industry and going into new sectors within their practice. Therefore my piece for this project needs to be interesting to the younger main portion of the audience but also still appeal to anyone else who is seeking help, as well as being attention grabbing it needs to be helpful at any stage in anyone’s career. Throughout their brief there is a large emphasis on empowerment, therefore the animation needs to be strong and inspiring as well as informative.
They provided us with a brand identity for the campaign, however the client said that there didn’t need to be a direct visual link to this as it can also be used as an inspiration for our work. They also laid emphasis on the diversity that needs to be shown if any people are involved in our work. It is clear that we need to consider the audience as our main influence in this piece since it is about them and communicating something to them.
COVID has meant that the industry has come to a halt, coming out of this, Ivors is focusing on making this workplace beneficial to the young musician and a place which is not as scary and daunting. This will provide those who seek help with a community where they are supported and taught how to make the most of their work which can build their practice and inspire it further.
Through each guest speaker, Mario and Stuarts talks were the ones that engaged me and made me evaluate my own practice in ways I had not considered before. I know that I need to take a step out of the comfort zone I have created for myself and listening to how experimental both artists are provides me with the inspiration to do so.
Mario Radhev – Juggling
Mario’s talk on multi-tasking and time management stood out to me since it opened up a world of information on the creative process. I had not properly considered before how an artist juggles multiple projects and how that is even done in a organised manner. It also showed me how having personal projects on as well as commission work is essential for your own development. His discussion on working in a big team with different pipelines was useful since I can easily research and learn about the process but actually hearing from someone who has been a part of this and worked in that environment was eye-opening. It made think that there is a lot that I am never going to learn until I am in the workplace as part of these experiences. When he was discussing his work, the surreal nature to it and the non human stylised figures were captivating. Having these figures which were not human but had human elements provided an unsettling more dark essence. To us this mixture of familiarity of form but also having elements far removed from what we know about movement was enticing. A point Mario made about exploring different processes, essentially considering how would your work exist if it was a music album, an avant-garde play etc. This made me consider my own processes and how having a style which you can translate between mediums is part of stepping into the professional world. The level of exploration Mario did within his practice was inspirational since I feel like my work has become very limited in style and I have put it in a box. I need to branch out and embrace a conceptual side in order to develop otherwise my work is going to become too much of the same, I feel like this is something that I have become stuck in recently which has affected my drive to work. This constant manner of staying on your feet and always finding different ways to showcase your work provided Mario with so many interesting opportunities and allowed him to work closely with artists from other mediums. Additionally exploring removes you from the animator’s seat and gives you this freedom to be able to enrich every side of your practice and knowledge of your field. Since money should not just be the main focus of your work, practice and experience form such an important part.
Stuart Hilton
It was extremely interesting finding out about Stuart and his work. It was inspiring how much of a role music played in his work and how important it was to him as a source of inspiration. The playful approach towards his use of line provides this simple basis of understanding of movement and how something can move across the page. This is something I need to consider, playing with line since it will inform my animation style and allow me to figure out how to make the most of the full page. This could also develop my desire to explore perspective in the sense of things being at different distances within a composition. Stuart has paid a lot of time considering how we actually receive a visual stimulus, such as when we are observing movement across a landscape our eyes track movement which is the way you eyes wobble when looking out of a window from a moving vehicle. We automatically focus on certain points, this is something important to consider when animating since I need to consider how the piece would look to a viewer and not to my eyes only. It is part of the practice, capturing and engaging a viewer in the story you are telling and adding perspective to my work will aid this visual interest. The way that he went about finding things to work with brought up so much new potential for this experimentation since this object brings a sense of narrative in itself. Some of those most impactful workshops I have done have been with Stuart on the first year Loops-Destroy project where we had to choose three random objects and create an animated piece connecting these three separate frames. Working in this manner opens up so much potential for development and is inspiring when something works out.
It has become increasingly evident that having an online presence has become important. I need to consider how I present myself in order to create a brand and an image which people experience when viewing my social platforms.
My skillset is rooted in my experience in Fine Art and painting, this has given me some levels of understanding of composition but in a very flat 2D manner. When moving to working digitally a whole new level of being able to work with perspective was opened. I made this move from still to moving image due to a passion I have for telling a story within my work, I felt that by moving to animation I could tell the stories I wanted to in a richer manner. This movement into digital work has given me experience in software such as TV Paint, Toon Boom Harmony, Procreate, Adobe Premiere and After Effects. With my continuing use of these I intend to develop and widen my abilities to tell these stories in a richer manner.
I want to develop my skillset to be more proficient digitally due to the opportunities it opens up for my future as a creative. By being able to tell a story in a more detailed manner with more complex software is where I strive to be, since learning to use different packages will greatly shape my own style. Improving my knowledge of the softwares I use at the moment is my main focus so that I can fully explore their potential such as with TV Paint, I thoroughly enjoyed using it during the LipSync project last year and would love to record my own conversations and animate to them. I live in a house of 6 girls and some of our conversations would be perfect to animate to, I often think of visuals whilst having these conversations. My storyboarding process and the way I plan my animations also needs to be developed so that I make sure I am able to create a solid storyline that I can adhere to and is easily translated to an audience. Another necessity I have found whilst working is my ability to edit film, I have basic abilities but anything complex stumps me. Therefore by the end of this year I intend to have experimented and learnt how to use the aforementioned programmes to their maximum potential.
It would be nice to experiment with complex animations, I have never considered camera movements and panning, I enjoy transformations since I do more representational animation. Yet the transformations could look a lot more interesting if there was a 3d element to them, like moving around the subject. I have kept my animations very flat and solely one camera view straight on from the front, the one time I changed the camera and perspective was on my final project for first year on Loops. That animation was instantly more engaging and richer.
His work appeals to the side of me that likes detailed pieces, I love the fantasy and apocalyptic themes. There is such a rich story in these pieces with emotions and so much movement due to the level of detail that he adds, every part of the figure is considered on how it would be executed in order to develop the story. Especially the detail in the skin and the different hues used to add more to a character, such as the more decaying greys used in the first and the pale blush seen in the last piece (shown above). The poses that he uses for the characters also display so much movement, in my own work I need to consider the poses and the movement I use to enhance the storyline since I find that my characters are very stationary when animated and illustrated.
Bardi’s work has abstract characters and such a wide range of visual imagery. The glowing, colourful fairytale theme in his work creates the idea that he has another world where these characters exist. Even within the illustration style you can fine a narrative, as well as the actual composition, this creates as rich a storyline as an animated piece.
Her animation style is my main influence at the moment. The way it is so organic and hand drawn, the way the frames come together in this constant movement is how I would like mine to look. The hand drawn element is highlighted in her style, every part is moving and thus so engaging to watch. It helps me break down the way I am hung up on perfect smooth animation and how the jumpy nature of her work looks as good as a smoother piece since it works well with her style.
Alice Bloomfield’s work inspires me due to her more sketchy style yet the way she uses line and shading bring in the more refined tone I like in work. Again in her work I love the gradients and glow she brings to her characters to make them into these ethereal gorgeous women. In her animated work the smoothness and imagination in her transitions to enhance this gorgeous otherworldly universe her work is part of.
Out of all these artists it is clear that the creation of another world is something I like to consider when it comes to what I produce. This is something I am striving to bring to the world of my characters, by bringing in a style and visual imagery that give a piece its own atmosphere as if it is not from our realm. To me this is important in the narrative of my work, you will know my world just from the style before it begins to move.
It has become clear to me that creating an online presence for my work is essential since growing a network online has proved useful in obtaining commission work. Therefore curating an image on social media platforms such as instagram is important to promote and share my work with a new audience. Here is my instagram, vimeo, youtube, portfolio website.
Alongside my animations I share online I do stick and pokes on the side as something I’m interested in, my illustration style is focused on the body and I consider the tattoos I do as part of my artistic practice. I choose to do stick and poke instead of using a machine due to the more organic way it settles into the skin. It forms part of my love for embracing human form and women’s bodies in my work, it is part of expression and telling your story. A lot of the time, I take stills from my animations and parts from my illustrations to use them as tattoo designs. It has also become a form of expanding and editing my social media presence as an artist and has very much become part of my online image. However part of growing my name as a stick and poke artist has been doing pieces which people want not one of my own designs, not everyone always wants part of my flash, these custom designs I charge more for.
As well as my own work I have begun to work on commission work, the latest being a music video for Kilder for his song ‘Bad For Me‘. I worked to a brief and alongside another creator and made sure it was finished in good time to be able to go through it with a film editor to add the pieces Kilder wanted on-top. During this project I accurately planned my time so that it was finished a week before the deadline therefore we could do further work and and necessary changes. There were quite a few issues to work out due to COVID, any film sent from K_anti was what she had tried her best to capture but was not specifically what we needed. So I discussed this with the musician and his agent and worked around these issues by coming up with ideas and processes that would work with what we had. Due to the short time scale I had to do this animation I had to change my work process slightly to make sure it was finished in time, I did this by filming myself in my room and rotoscoping a few of the clips. This proved to be quicker as a method to produce movements that looked good when played and I had to think less about whether it worked and moved smoothly. However I found that doing this I paid too much attention to something looking perfect and has not left room for me to stylise my work in the way I want to.
I have recently tried to do this in my latest animation, (here is a clip) I have not used rotoscope but my own knowledge of how the figure moves. I find this more interesting since then the piece is not just how film would look it is more free and organic which I find it more engaging as it is different from what we would experience. This desire for development and more stylised features has made itself evident in my illustration style too, creating a story and layout in my illustrations is better than in my animations. This is a skill which I need to begin to develop and transfer to my animated work.
The devil figure I use in my work now has become a motif which I use in almost every piece if I am able to. I settled on this since it expresses this this powerful attitude I have as a woman, women have been criminalised throughout history and seen as manipulative witches who are lusty and tempting. For me I want this sexual nature that the female image has been portrayed in as something that I can take back and be confident with. Therefore by assuming this image I am showing this powerful god-like sexy woman content in herself, taking back the ideas that have been pushed onto our image and using them to remake ourselves.
My current ideas after finishing BA Animation at LCC is to continue and do a masters. Since being in education has always been a productive and inspirational environment for me, the people I have met and conversations I have are extremely important to the development of my practice. Therefore doing a masters will help in giving me experience and maintaining this level of development in a manner where I feel comfortable, it gives me the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. Whereas in a professional environment there is less room for experimentation on this level. I am also unsure of where I want to go with my practice after university, my thoughts currently are hanging between working freelance or becoming part of a company in a specific position. Working freelance and having my own style has always been important to me, in the sense of people approaching me out of their own interest for the work I produce. However I have always had an interest in working commercially since when I see adverts or pieces I like online or on TV I think about the team behind it and what it would be like becoming part of this group. In the way a project works its way through different groups of people in a production line is interesting and overseeing something like this to ensure it achieves the brief. Therefore after research and talking to alumni some of the masters on offer at RCA have caught my attention.
MA Animation
Since I am still constantly continuing to develop my own animation style it has made it clear that I will not be settled on a specific style any time soon, especially considering the softwares I intend to become more proficient in by the end of the year. I feel like being able to use these will greatly change and influence my current style. I find this process extremely interesting too, therefore by doing a masters in Animation I can continue this process. Being around other students in this subject too is something that I find important to this process, since you are able to relate to where they are in regards to their own practice. Working with other students is an undoubtedly freer environment in comparison to working with industry professionals, this is a perception I have made from my own experiences.
The page for MA Animation at RCA discusses ‘innovative risk-taking’ which is what I refer to when I discuss the benefits of still being in education. You can be innovative too in a commercial environment of course, however, these risks are under more pressure to work out well. Problem-solving is a skill that I want to develop and researching this masters has shown me that this is something they greatly value in their teaching style to ‘deal creatively and sensitively with contemporary issues across a range of technologies and platforms’. Developing these critical tools, knowledge and confidence in an a place where I have tutor’s and points of contact for discussion and evaluation is important to me since it gives me confidence to step out of my comfort zone and experiment in a informative manner. Being a ‘game changer’ is where I want to be after university and the emphasis that this course places on that is the reason why I am considering it. Their Narrative Animation pathway which you choose on application focuses on ‘experimentation with forms of storytelling’, this is essentially what I am aiming to do with practice.
Looking at their alumi too is interesting, seeing their success and how the course must have informed their practice is so intriguing. Looking through their pages at what work they have done is inspirational, especially at a time where I am unsure of where my work will go next. Such as one of their old students Julia Pott.
MA Digital Direction – ‘Media and storytelling in the digital era’
As discussed, I am hanging between wanting to work solely on my animation and become a freelance animator but on the other hand go into a marketing company. This desire to be in the commercial world has been spurred on by recent things such as my GCS collaborative project. Working in this team was extremely informative in the ways of producing a concept and the process you need to go through in order to create something solid. Even though we were all new to the process, working through it and evaluating what we had done was an extremely useful learning curve. Since we were on our own but in the university environment it allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them.
The creative world is becoming increasingly digital based and therefore doing this masters incorporates so well with what I want to do. I want to develop an understanding of media production in a critical and experimental environment and I feel like this course would provide me with this opportunity. This programme develops skills in key areas such as; ‘production, direction, content development and digital media design.’. These are the things which I want to develop specifically, I have some levels of experience in these however nothing has been directly taught. Being taught in these areas would make me confident in my own abilities and like I am able to know what to do and how to do it, since I am already comfortable managing a team I simply need the specific theory and learning behind it. The programme will be able to supply me with these skills as well as helping evolve my own practice in going forward after university. Being around other like minded students will also provide me with a valuable network when we do leave and go our separate ways since the most valuable thing I have learnt from this year is working alongside people with different skillsets and interests to you is way more informative.
Considering my career path after university being part of somewhere like Blinkink would be a dream, I love their work they produce and the people they work with. To me it would be so interesting surrounding myself with these people, as it would give me a massive source of inspiration and drive to keep working. Being part of a collective like this would put a powerhouse of creative drive behind my work as I would thrive in the busy environment. I have already had discussions with a group from holland about being represented and it gives you a sense of community and that people appreciate your work and gives you the drive to strive to reach further.
Looking through their portfolio, Stevie Gee’s work caught my attention. The colour palette he uses for his work is gorgeous and so clearly his work, each hue of each colour is specific to his style. This is something I need to consider in my work as part of its development and stylisation. The way he colours his animations with the fuzzy glowing edges, makes them stand out visually and the gradient shading he does. The simple characters animated in an entertaining manner as simple loops with imaginative smooth transitions are so visually engaging. These quick fun pieces inspire me to do a lot more smaller test animation pieces and spend more time on them to put some bulk into my portfolio like Stevie Gee’s
If I was going to work commercially, I had never properly considered or researched what roles are available in the industry and what specifically interests me. Therefore by reading through websites I found certain roles that caught my eye and I would enjoy working in.
Animators are artists, actors and storytellers who are able to show characters emotions and understand how something may move. Animators take a visual brief from a storyboard artist and a verbal brief from a director, from this they create the moving imagery. They often work in large teams which means they also need to be capable of adhering to a style.
Kinds
– 2d traditional animators – draw each frame by hand, usually on animation software. Their work isn’t usually what you see on the screen, it is the assistants (clean-up artists) who will produce the final line, following the main animators actions and performance created.
– 2d rigging animators – will work with rigged models produced by the art department, the animator will use these pieces to animate a storyline as detailed on the storyboard.
-3d or CG animators – they use computers to add movement to models which is achieved through a pre-programmed rig. They create the key frames and either draw the frames in-between or let the computer sort it through the rig. During pre-production they test the rig and if it will work for their characters.
– stop-motion animators – work with puppets or models that a moved slightly and photographed frame by frame. On larger projects animators will be employed based on their skills in different elements such as different actions, emotions and characters.
Art directors are responsible for the visual style of the animation. Their decisions are what the rest of the art department to work from. They look at the script and speak to the director to understand the vision for the piece, helping the art director decide how they would have the final on-screen piece look. They will work alongside concept artists to produce 2d drawings that will be presented to the director, producer and sometimes investors. The Art Director will work on the entirety of the project and will help manage the other artists and make sure their work is on brief, this requires communication and management skills. Art Directors sometimes work as freelance and employed per project.
Art directors in advertising are responsible for creating and developing ideas focused on their visual appearance. The things this includes are posters, prints, advertisements, tv commercials, cinema, radio, leaflets, mobile apps and websites. The art director combines their creative skills with their knowledge of design and the production process to create work that appeals to an audience. Its important that the art director is able to understand the context behind the client’s business and apply problem solving skills to the project.
They work with
– copywriters, creative directors, account management, planners, creative services, studio and production staff (internally).
– print producers, commercials directors, commercial producers, animators, illustrators, radio producers and photographers (external).
A creative director provides the main ideas and imagination within a project since they are in charge of the creative process and those who work with them. It is important that they are skilled managers who are open and good with people, they also need good time management to be able to straddle multiple projects at once. Knowledge is also extremely important about the tools the teams uses to create and also of the world.
-A creative director works alongside designers, copywriters, sales teams and marketers.
– working your way up the company is often the way in.
– networking is extremely important to become successful in this position since it opens doors and opportunities for new projects.
– also being educated with how the world works such as popular culture, art and design history.
An animation director holds the creative vision of an animated piece, they share this vision and get everyone to work to it. They direct the teams working on the project and direct voice actors if needed and direct any actors that may be acting our reference scenes. The director is accountable assuring the quality of the edited piece (the directors cut).
– larger projects might need a director as well as an animation director.
Head of story is in charge of combining the writers words and directors vision into a visual form. They produce a series of pieces detailing staging and camera choices and ensuring the scenes are cohesive. These form the basis of the production team’s animations. They work closely with the director on story development with their team of storyboard artists. Head of Story is also able to work in a freelance manner.
Searching for a job on The Dots which I would apply for I found the position as a Junior Artworker at McCann. When writing a CV and cover letter you have limited time to catch the readers attention and convince them that your application is worthy to consider further. Therefore your CV should be seen as a marketing document appealing to the specific position you are applying to. It is essential that you thoroughly research the job requirements and the values of the company to make sure that your CV is the most appealing to that particular position. You need to consider:
By evaluating everyone’s abilities and what we could bring to the project as individuals, it began the process of thinking how we could organise ourselves as a team with varying skills and experience. Figuring out these skills was beneficial since it began to shape our product since we knew what we were able to produce as a when working together. This also made way for dividing us into smaller groups who would focus on separate things which brought clarity to our work process.
Groups that were identified were the Illustrators, games designers and Creative Industries & media. This helped to figure out our process as this highlighted three main groups, the mini-game concept illustrations, website creators and marketing.
Therefore the way the groups were decided was putting someone from each skill group in each location, so a pack of research, development and imagery was created for each city. When making creative decisions though about the overall theme and logo, we came together to make sure we attained as many perspectives as we could in a quick and affective manner.
We used a google doc to keep track of our zoom discussions and thoughts since this was the most used between us all and it allows instant live editing and communication within the document. This allowed key points to be noted down as we spoke which made sure nothing was missed as if we were meeting in person. These regular points of coming back together after doing work in our smaller groups proved useful in keeping us on track and in sync as a group which was vital.
I have little experience with collaborating with a large group with some being from overseas, therefore having my partner Laura from Ryerson was useful since we were able to discuss our situations as well as becoming friends. On our neighbourhood walk we chose to focus on transport since it is something common all over the world and shapes what you are able to do from day to day.
Location
Toronto Georgy Porgys Grill & Bar; 1448 Lawrence Ave E Unit 1, North York, ON M4A 2V6
London The Sun of Camberwell61-63 Coldharbour Ln, Brixton, London SE5 9NS
Vehicles
Majority of Canadian vehicles have automatic transmissions, and even being able to drive manual is becoming very rare. There is a running joke that a manual transmission is a “millenial anti-theft device” since no one can drive them, and they aren’t stolen very often. We have a 3-stage license program you can start at 16yrs, there’s starts at 17yrs & they have a separate class license for automatic.
Here in London having a car is rare due to how high the living costs are. To get from place to place public transport is favoured. Unlike Canada, automatic vehicles are hard to come across due to how much they cost and when it comes to obtaining a licence the majority take a manual test. Laura lives further from the city center so she has a car to get places whereas here in London everything is so close there is no need to drive.
Temp./Weather
At the time of our call it was 4 Celsius in Toronto, very windy, and looked like it might storm later on. Oct/Nov (fall) is pretty cold and rainy in Toronto, going below 0 often at night.
For once England wasn’t the cold stormy place! It was a lovely warm evening of 17 degrees. Even though it was humid and windy this was made up for by the fact I was nice and warm.
Public Transpo-rtation
The TTC only has two real subway lines, with some LRTs and streetcars, and lots of busses. Outside of the downtown core though, it’s mostly just busses and a lot of people drive. Being from outside downtown, I drive a lot to get around, unless I need to go to campus which is when I’ll use the subway (and the bus). Both systems are pretty vast, but the Tube seems superior to the Rocket.
The sun is right next to a few bus stops which can get you to central London very quickly. You can also take the overground and Tube which are just as useful. We compared the underground maps for Toronto and London and thought about how busy London’s looked in comparison.
Size/Gov-ernment
Ontario is more than 4x size of the UK (according to tripadvisor.ca), so we can drive 5 hours and it takes us to Ottawa, and we’re not even in a new province. They can drive 3 hours and they’re on the other side of the country.
The population of London is 8.982 million (2019) and we all fit into a 1,572 km² area. The Queen of England is on their notes like ours since she is the Constitutional Monarch. However both places act independently from the monarchy.
Covid Limitati-ons
This is a new development, but a lot of what we used to do is limited. I’m not downtown or on campus really at all this year, so I don’t go out to eat with my friends after class or sit in the student lounge. And I also don’t leave my house much at all, other than a walk around the neighbourhood almost every day, so finding somewhere to go for this call was interesting!
Because of Covid the places we can go are very limited, our environments and daily surroundings have changed in order to fit with restrictions. Even though travel is easy and quick in London, I have stayed in my area only going to places which are a short distance away. Therefore this was an interesting contrast between the restaurant Laura drives to with her family as opposed to the pub I walk to with my housemates.
A difference between Canada and the UK that surprised me was that in Canada manual cars have become very rare, many drive an automatic and will for their whole lives from when they learn onwards. However, in the UK, automatic cars are considered a luxury due to the higher prices, therefore many choose to learn in manual and stay with it. Additionally due to raising living costs and more people living in crowded areas cars are becoming less of a necessity and more of a burden with how expensive they are to run and upkeep. But Laura lives far from the city centre and having a car is necessary to get places for her, in London it is different as public transport is well connected and affordable. COVID-19 has affected us both in very different manners, due to Laura’s location her life has not been hugely changed by restrictions since she lives far from campus and friends. Whereas being in London, COVID has drastically changed my way of life with entertainment venue’s being closed and large gatherings against the rules. This instantly highlighted the differences in people’s capabilities to travel as everyone’s situation is extremely different, shedding light on the way that Co-Pilot can provide this platform where everyone is on the same level in the world of travel as a community. Brining people together this way is becoming important during this time.
When the project was coming to and end we came back together to discuss what we had learned about international collaboration from this project (here’s the link to a recording of the highlights of our 60min discussion). Firstly, when collaborating online it becomes clear how different people may seem over text. Even though there are many benefits to this method of communication, such as helping people who are more shy, miscommunication can happen and something may be taken differently from how it was meant to come across. However this was combatted by how online it is easier for many to make friendships, this highlighted the importance of understanding someone on more than a face to face professional level. Since we were comfortable speaking to each other, even those who were quieter, it made way for a more productive work environment where agreements and decisions were easier to make. This was because people felt more comfortable expressing their opinions, to me this was the most important element to my groups’ collaboration. Text slang and emojis were also extremely useful when communicating since it gave our group-chats a colloquial and chatty atmosphere which made evaluating things and sharing ideas a lot easier for us all.
Even if we were functioning well as a group, Laura and I had both picked up on the difficulties of working around schedules and time zone differences. This became a bigger problem with international collaboration since we were all living very different lives. However it became clear that ultimately this made us work closer as a group and make sure no one was left behind as you needed to consider everyone if we were going to have a team call. These differences between our lives was not the only difference that we learned to work with, but also the diversity of perspectives that were brought to the table. However, this came as a huge benefit to our process, since the concept could be shaped by so many different ideas from different angles. I have also learnt from this as it helped bring different ideals to my own attention which I could think through which is turn would inform and mould my own perspective.
Researching the target audience was guided by the idea that many people of all ages enjoy a holiday. Families connecting with other family members they can’t see because of Lockdown, friend groups who want to have some fun online or even people who want to meet someone new. Everyone experiencing lockdown has a desire for escape and company, therefore there are many people who need to be considered when developing this concept. Group zoom calls have become extremely popular with the elderly who are shielding seeing their family and grandchildren, friend groups having fun as if they were out and for educational purposes. Considering this chat feature was important since it reinforces the immersive nature of Co-Pilot and emulates the experiences of making new connections in a COVID friendly way. Due to this, incorporating a group video call feature would develop this interactivity since you could ‘sit in a restaurant’ together as a group after making a meal from a recipe provided. Therefore the game needed to be accessible for all ages and family friendly, this idea of accessibility led to considering expanding the audience to those who also aren’t able to afford the expenses of a trip abroad. Travelling is a form of education too and this sort of resource should be open and affordable. As a result, inclusivity and community regarding every circumstance became important.
Additionally when bringing in a chat feature like this there needs to be a form of protection for the users, safety guides, rules and regulations. When discussing the concept with the group it was something that we thought about since if Co-Pilot was to be this safe space for all ages these kinda of measures were necessary. Therefore the process of buying a ticket and entering the game was altered, where when purchasing a package you can choose whether you want to explore privately or not as either a group or individual. This determines whether public chat features are open or not and if you are online with other users you have not met before.
Researching competitors proved useful in developing our concept by helping figure out what was already out there and what was popular. Some competitors were:
Airbnb online experiences – Unique activities led by hosts across video call , £8-73 per person.
Google Arts and Culture – High -resolution images and videos of artworks and artefacts for free.
Around Egypt – Oculus immersive VR experience – explore tourist attractions in Egypt, £2.99.
National Geographic VR – VR experience of culture animals science and travel for free.
World Traveler – Immersive VR experience where you figure out which city you are in, £2.29.
Looking Glass – VR experience of the world during the 19th century for free.
Out for Delivery – Is an interactive experience where players follow a food courier in Beijing, the scenes play out but the player choose what to focus on.
Wheels of Aurelia – Drive along the Italian coast with an in-game companion with a multiple choice dialogue that reveals Italy’s political tumult. There are 16 different endings depending on where you choose to drive and what you say.
From looking at these games and experiences it was clear that there is no fully immersive travelling platform in the form of a choose-your-own-adventure that is also educational and provides accessibility to multiple locations. There is also a lack of being able to connect realtime and speak to others as well interacting with businesses in an engaging manner. Here are some more examples.
Within each city, I decided that the most relevant information needed was about the local cuisine, activities and history. When researching I came across Gladiator School of Rome , here they provide a museum tour and access to a training ring where an instructor will teach moves and supervise mock gladiator fights. This triggered the idea of having a mini-game linked to the school as part of Co-Pilot. Therefore I decided that finding things that were exciting and worked with a game format in an engaging way was important. Additionally if the concept was taken further it would be beneficial to work alongside these businesses as part of the experiences linked to them in the game, since during the global pandemic it would provide a platform for business.
This (above) is the illustration I did as an example for the gladiator mini-game. After research into the school on Tripadvisor I could see what the tourists were given to wear and what the instructors wore, this was important since its incorporates more of the actual company into our game concept.
Here’s another example of an illustration by one of my team members, it provides this warm homely and welcoming feeling that we were focusing on.
Having this gaming interface was important since it appeals to the theme of adventure and exploration, bringing in this fun sense of community on an online server. It shows the users that they are not alone in their exploration of the world from their bedroom. Co-Pilot needed a welcoming tone to it to match the community aspect, therefore, a warm colour palette and simple graphics were needed to appeal to the audience and not confront or defer them. Bringing this no stress environment to travelling meant that Co-Pilot could offer an experience that was extremely different to the potential amounts of stress and exhaustion that travelling can bring in real life. For someone who struggles to travel because of physical or mental illness this could be a useful tool to explore without difficulty.
I created a Pinterest board for the group which we could all add things to in order to provide an idea for the playful, warm and welcoming yet awe inspiring imagery we could produce for our concept. For me this mood board was important since we could not sit together and draw and look at colour schemes as we were all so far apart but it allowed me to bring everyone in to consider imagery we could all add to and edit. It brought a collective direction to our thoughts. Reproducing the cities in a stylised manner would emphasise the video game side to the project and make it a fun intriguing place to learn, we all had very different styles yes it was an aid in understanding the direction we were taking.
One of our group members was proficient with 3D modelling so he created some concept ideas for the streets of our locations. It was our aim to make it as immersive as possible and unlike anything we found on our travel market research, with the realistic looking avatars which were personalised to the user’s preference.
Considering the concept it is clear that there needed to be more consideration of how it would actually work. Even-though it is not the finished product there is still a backbone missing, if it was taken further there is still so much that needs to be done. These gaps lie in the research around protecting users when using the chat feature, since Co-Pilot will be open to teens, adults and the elderly. Signing up to use the platform would require official age verification, this is due to the exploitation that chat and video features could be used for. I also believe that clear examples of these features are missing from the mock website and presentation. There was a lot that we discussed that did not get translated into the finished concept, including more visual examples that would have brought it closer to life and making it more intriguing. We discussed all the experiences but did not provide many finished examples, many were brought forth with research but were not continued with into the later stages of development. This issue lay in the difficulties we faced in creating the website and lengthy process of the 3D modelling. This demonstrated that the length of tasks needed to be considered as well as just making sure the tasks were equally separated.
Even though our group got on very well there was still a lot of confusion and uncertainty when it came to creating our concept. Trying to organise the group and sort out a style and cohesion between our work proved difficult since there was a strong desire to do what was individually desired. This made way to visual imagery that did not have a common enough theme between it, thus missing out on Co-Pilot having a visual identity because of this mismatched nature. It is all well everyone getting along but it made me realise that authority was important in organising people and making sure tasks were done to plan. There needed to be a main figure within the group who kept track of each team and what they were producing, taking special care in ensuring that all the pieces fit together. This issue was certainly emphasised by the distance between us all, problems COVID has had for mental health and work ethic and our general inexperience in this form of work process.
Working with a group of new people on a completely new experience did require some acclimation. Getting used to the group was important since we did not know each other and understanding the way we all work was important, this was benefitted by how well we got on. This project informed me on how you create and present a concept rather than the usual creative outcomes we produce on other projects. This was beneficial for me though because not having a piece of art as the final outcome but instead a collaborative concept meant that I was able to understand the skills I have and how I am able to learn to apply this knowledge.
‘Be your own tour guide with CoPilot!’, this customisable experience is a virtual choose-your-own-adventure manner of travelling that is accessible and COVID-19 friendly.
Co-Pilot is an experience which connects people across the world with friend groups, family and like minded strangers. This platform is accessible to all people and allows immersion into another location to escape our daily routine. The concept offers customisable destination packages to Tokyo, Rome and Cairo. This package is able to be altered to a user’s budget which also allows students and young professionals to explore locations since they are missing out on travel time due to COVID -19. Experiences include museum and landmark tours, virtual concerts and local cuisine.
Co-Pilot includes chat features to bring together the users as a community and provide the option to meet new people. You are given an avatar which you are able to customise with currency that you can win during mini games, this character represents you as you walk through the streets of the locations.
The website is the main access to the game where people will purchase a certain package which then gives you a code that on entering into the website will allow you to decide between the destinations and decide what you want to do based on the package you paid for.
